Letter to the Editor,
Dog friendly Community??
What makes a Meaford dog owner think it is ‘dog friendly’ to daily… indeed twice daily… leave their own front & back yards to walk their dogs along our streets and allow their dog(s) to defecate & urinate on a neighbour’s front lawn?
What makes a Meaford dog owner think it is ‘dog friendly’ to daily allow their dogs to defecate & urinate on Public sidewalks, boulevards, at our Post boxes, along Public trails, and in our Public Parks?
What makes a Meaford dog owner think it is ‘dog friendly’ to bag these dog feces and then deposit the bags under a neighbour’s shrubs, tied to branches of trees… bagged feces strewn along the trails, bags dropped on Main Street & urban sidewalks, in our Parks, or left on Park benches? Or… to NOT bag the feces at all?!
At present many, many, many of our Meaford front lawns are saturated with dog urine, dog feces, and the dog feces residue (yes there is always residue) left even after bagging. To have 20, 30 & often more dogs leaving feces residue & urine daily on one front lawn or on one boulevard… this does NOT signal a neighbourhood that is ‘dog friendly’.
The DAILY dog feces left in our parks, on our streets, and along our trails does NOT say ‘community friendly’.
It is time to admit it… this phrase we hear so often… the ‘majority’ of Meaford dog owners are responsible is just no longer true. The evidence is there daily & year round for all to see. Many, many local residents & visitors… and even some of the very few remaining responsible dog owners… will attest to this!
Meaford right NOW has a very serious dog feces problem.
If it is not addressed very soon it will become not only a local economy ‘tourist branding’ problem… but a public health problem. We have several hundred dogs in our community at present and with new housing developments on the horizon hundreds more can be expected. Do the math… that is & will be a lot of DAILY dog feces & urine deposited on private property and Public spaces. Tourism may be one thing… our health is another.
Please train your dogs to defecate & urinate on command… and to do so on your OWN property BEFORE you walk your dog for exercise!
And… Please use ‘curbing’ for those very few & unexpected occasions… bag the dog feces and dispose of it in a responsible manner. The training is not difficult! Check out the YouTube videos or ask a dog trainer for help.
Dog owners that live in apartments or condo properties can ask their property management/associations to create an area 6’x6’ (2m x2m) communal dog ‘poop-zone’ on their properties. The dogs CAN be trained to use these zones and the dog owners can be responsible for the bagging & disposing of the dog feces plus the upkeep of the zone. If such condo/apartment residents do not or can not have access to such a ‘zone’ then please teach your dogs to defecate on the street… not on the sidewalk… not on a lawn… ‘curb your dog’… and again, bag the feces & put the bags in a garbage bin… curb, bag & bin… it is not that difficult.
To be known as a truly ‘dog friendly’ community we need to FIRST be known for… & also to EXPECT… responsible & respectful dog owners.
Otherwise many property owners may soon wish to install signs on their front lawns that say ‘ DOG OWNERS… KEEP OFF THE GRASS… members of my family don’t use your front lawn as a ‘rest room’… please don’t let your Furbaby use mine as one… NO POOPING OR PEEING’.
Or this one – ‘PRIVATE PROPERTY… NO DOG POOPING – NO DOG PEEING’.
OR… ‘NO DOGS ALLOWED ON THIS SECTION OF TRAIL’
OR… the arrival of strict dog bylaws and fines.
Such actions in no way will suggest a dog friendly community.
FIRST THINGS FIRST… before petitioning the idea of more ‘leash free’ areas for dogs… or yet more ‘dog friendly’ promotions in Meaford… or installing ‘NO DOG POOPING ALLOWED’ signs… let’s deal with our major dog feces problem NOW.
Please make the necessary effort… be a respectful dog owner… TRAIN your dogs to defecate BEFORE leaving home… and use ‘Curb,bag, & bin’ if needed.
Please refrain from turning your dogs loose on our trails, beaches, at our Fairground, in our cemetery, and in our Parks. Our Public spaces are NOT ‘dog-relief’ zones.
Your efforts now will be much appreciated by Myself and many other residents and… visitors/ tourists coming to Meaford.
With these efforts we might then ALL be known as members of a truly dog friendly community.
Thank you,
Jane Buchanan, Meaford
Note: I have been a dog owner most of my life… an owner of both working dogs and pets.
